[geeks] healthcare was: nVidia 8800GT for Apple Mac Pro

[Sandwich Maker]

" From: Shannon Hendrix <shannon at widomaker.com>
" 
" On May 23, 2008, at 17:27 , Sandwich Maker wrote:
" 
" > " From: Shannon Hendrix <shannon at widomaker.com>
" > "
" > "
" > " You just don't realize how much more money we are burning right now.
" >
" > we're spending enough on the war to launch shuttles m/w/f -every- 
" > week-.
" > 150 launches a year.
" >
" > and folks complain nasa's expensive...
" 
" Yep.
" 
" It really ticks me off too.
" 
" []
" 
" Why do people always go after NASA when noise starts about the  
" government budget?

they're an easy target; few people have any idea how much nasa has
contributed to daily life.

" NASA's budget is so tiny it isn't even noise in the signal.
" 
" It's also one reason why it has such a hard time: NASA is given a huge  
" and difficult mission list, with severe penalties if it doesn't do all  
" of them correctly, and a budget only good enough to do about a quarter  
" of it properly.

and worse: the fed is stonewalling on paying back $1b nasa spent on
its orders, analyzing the last shuttle disaster and reengineering to
ensure no recurrence.  this was outside of nasa's normal budget and
obligations.

" In the 1960s, NASA's budget was 10% of GNP or something huge like that.

i read somewhere recently that their budget currently is 0.6% of the
federal budget.  it could grow by half and still not be a penny on our
tax dollar.  it would have to be some seven times larger to match the
4+% peak it reached in the '60s.  but then we were fighting the cold
war and their real objective was flexing our missiles at the soviets.
________________________________________________________________________
Andrew Hay                                  the genius nature
internet rambler                            is to see what all have seen
adh at an.bradford.ma.us                       and think what none thought